The Final Battle
by Felony Melanie
Summary: I was bored and I wrote the ending to book 7. Is that a crime? One shot.... written before OotP


I said it before, I will say it again: I wish I owned Harry Potter. But I own nothing, not the characters, not the spells, not even the last word as that is the word that J.K. will supposedly use in book seven. All I own is the computer I am writing on and the scenario. So please, don't sue.

Just to let you know, this story is set for when Harry, Ron, and Hermione are in their 7th year. I call it "The Final Battle." Just so you don't get confused when you start reading, I'll set up the scene for you a little bit. Harry, Ron, and Hermione end up in this forest, it's not the forbidden forest, but it's one they've never been to before, and they're not sure how they ended up there (kidnapped? some sort of spell? portkey?). So anyways, they're all confused, and then the Death Eaters show up. They start fighting, and the trio is doing pretty well, except they need to get help. Snape was there as a Death Eater spy, and sends off for Dumbledore and Ministry ppl. So they're still fighting . . .

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"Harry! Look at Hermione!" Ron yelled from his position crouched behind a giant oak with his wand out in front of him.

Harry turned and looked towards where Hermione had been. He saw a Death Eater advancing on a crumbled body. It was then that Harry realized that it was Hermione.

With all of his might, he ran to her. The Death Eater swung his wand up above his head, prepared to bring it swishing down.

"No!" Harry yelled diving on top of the cloaked figure and bringing him crashing to the ground. Harry wrestled with him for a moment, trying to pry his wand from his fingers. The Death Eater's fist collided with Harry's face and he fell off of him, stunned. Harry whipped his wand out tried to curse him, but something else collided with Harry.

It was another Death Eater.

Harry kicked him hard in the chest, and crawled out from beneath him. The first Death Eater had gotten up and was standing over Hermione once more.

"_Expelliarmus!_" Harry bellowed. The Death Eater's wand flew from his hand and Harry caught it. Without thinking, he snapped it in two and tossed it aside. Defeated, the Death Eater turned and ran.

Harry ran to Hermione and fell to his knees. "Hermione. . ." he moaned, seeing the giant gash across her forehead.

Ron came skidding over also, and kneeled beside Harry. "Oh, Lord," he said, seeing her.

"Ron, I need to get her out of here," Harry slid one of his arms under her knees and another under her back. He lifted her slowly, his wand still in his hand. He searched a moment for Hermione's wand, and then spotted it, a yard away from where she had been lying. "Get her wand, will you?"

Ron stooped and picked it up. He tucked it away into his pocket. Harry started to walk, and Ron kept his wand out in front of him in case more Death Eaters came. They were slowly emerging from the forest, and getting closer to safety.

There was a distinctive _pop!_ and the hairs on the back of Harry's neck bristled. Ron turned around and Harry heard him gasp. Harry turned too, and there He was.

Voldemort. His wand raised. Harry set Hermione down and kissed her gently.

"Go, Ron," Harry said, staring Voldemort in the eye.

"But, Harry --"

"I said GO!"

With a reluctant look at Harry, Ron rushed over to Hermione, gathered her in his arms, and took off running. Harry watched them go, feeling as though that would be the last time he would see them. It would be. Harry knew he was going to die. He knew that Voldemort's connection to him was so close that he stayed alive as long as Harry stayed alive.

Turning back to Voldemort, Harry stared into those merciless, red eyes. He flexed his fingers against the smooth wood of his wand. Harry narrowed his eyes and started to practice his curse inside of his head, _Avada Kedavra. . . Avada Kedavra. . . Avada Kedavra. . ._"

Harry had used the curse only once before, against the excuse-for-a-man who told Voldemort where to find his parents and got them killed, Wormtail. He had gotten an award from the Ministry of Magic for that, and an amazing amount of gifts from Sirius. 

But now was different. Now, he knew that the effort involved in giving the curse would kill him, simply because Voldemort was so powerful and their wands shared the same core.

Voldemort's lip curled as he raised his wand.

Harry did the same.

* *

"Ron? Where's Harry?" Hermione asked once she had woken up. Ron was carrying her and looking rather grim.

He didn't answer.

"Ron?"

"You-Know-Who came," he said finally, "Harry told me to go."

"What?!" Hermione cried, jumping out of Ron's arms, "No!"

"Hermione! Wait!" Ron yelled as Hermione took off running. He bit his lip and looked around. Against his better judgment, he ran after her.

* *

Hermione froze. Harry hadn't seen her, he was too busy with Voldemort at the moment. Both of them had their wands raised, and both were looking daggers at each other.

Hermione sobbed despite herself. She had told herself a long time ago that if it came to this she would not become weak, for Harry's sake. Ron appeared panting at her side, but did not reprimand her. He just watched the scene unfolding in front of him.

Voldemort sneered. Harry narrowed his eyes further.

Voldemort swished his wand up above his head and Harry followed suit.

As Voldemort screeched "_Avada Kedavra!_" Harry did the same. Hermione cried out, but Harry didn't turn. He had a fierce look in his eyes that Hermione had never seen there.

The wands connected, as they had years before at the graveyard, but it was not the same connection. The strand was sharp green instead of gold. The rushing sound of death speeding towards them became unbearable as it roared in Harry's ears.

The life was being sucked out of Harry, and he could tell Voldemort was experiencing the same thing. _Just a moment longer_, he said to himself, _It'll all be over in a moment_. . .

Voldemort started to scream. The sound coursed through Harry as he too started to scream, feeling as though thousands of knifes were stabbing him everywhere. His vision was starting to go dark, and he felt oddly lightheaded, but right as though he felt he could not take it any longer, Voldemort fell in a crumpled heap.

He was dead.

The connection broke and Voldemort's wand fell to the ground with a clatter. Harry fell too, unable to draw breath any longer. Hermione rushed forward, turning him onto his back. She kneeled by his side and Ron stood behind her.

"Harry?" Hermione's voice quivered.

Harry tried to make his eyes focus. It took a great effort to keep them open at all. He choked out a mere whisper, "Hermione?"

"I'm here, Harry," Hermione said. She grasped his hand and held it to her body. "You're going to be okay, Harry. We're going to get you to a hospital and they're going to fix you up really well."

Harry smiled slightly, feeling the muscles working extra hard to make that small movement. "I. . . love. . . you. . . . Take. . . care of. . . everyone. . . for me. . ."

"Don't talk like that, Harry! You're going to be a hero! You-Know-Who is gone! For good!"

Harry didn't answer. His breathing was shallow. He closed his eyes.

"Harry?" Hermione said loudly. She shook him sharply. "Harry?! Stay with me!"

Ron put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed it.

"NO! Harry?"

He didn't move. Hermione leaned in for a kiss. A final kiss. His lips were dry and cold.

"I love you," she cried, "I love you so much! Don't leave me! Not now!"

She put her head against his chest and listened to his heart's weak beating.

One beat. . .

Two beats. . .

Three beats. . .

Four beats. . .

. . .

Hermione strained her ears. Screwing up her eyes as the first tears fell.

Harry's body slacked, and his hand slipped from hers.

She sat for a moment in shock, holding her breath, her mouth opened slightly. Ron turned away, holding his hand to his forehead and looking up at the sky. He whispered bitterly, "Bastard!" and then gave a glance to Harry's limp form, then strode off. Hermione watched him go over to where Voldemort lay. She watched him pick up Voldemort's wand and snap it in half. And then she watched him kick Voldemort's body . . . hard.

Hermione turned back to Harry. A series of popping sounds announced the arrival of the Ministry Wizards. The Aurors who had failed to show up when it meant the most. Dumbledore came. He came to Hermione's side and looked sadly at Harry. Hermione felt a hatred towards him that she thought was not possible. Dumbledore tried to lift Hermione to her feet, but she pulled her arm from his grasp.

"Let me be," she said harshly.

"Hermione --" he started to say.

"No! You weren't here! You didn't come help us! You let Harry die! It's your fault he's dead!"

Dumbledore said nothing. He looked back at Harry. A Ministry Wizard called him, and he strode off to Voldemort's body where several Aurors were trying to hold back Ron who was trying his hardest to kick Voldemort again.

"Let me go!" he was yelling. "That damn bastard just killed my best friend! Let me go!"

Hermione picked up Harry's wand and put it in his hand, lying it down on his chest. She then unclasped the necklace that was around her neck, the one Harry had given her for Christmas, and put it around his neck. She kissed his forehead gently and stood up.

"All right! I won't kick him! Now will you let me go?" Ron wrenched his shoulder from the hold of a particularly big Auror. He ran over to Hermione who was looking down at Harry. She swayed slightly, as though she were about to fall. He pulled her into a hug and held her tightly.

She didn't cry. She didn't speak. It was as if she was just a body now; her soul had been wrenched from her just now. Her heart was beating painfully, as if it no longer saw a purpose. Her eyes were unfocused and simply stared ahead of her. Without warning, she just collapsed. She didn't faint, she just couldn't stand any longer, or didn't want to. Ron held her to him still, he was sobbing and holding her head to his shoulder.

"Is she all right?" a wizard asked.

"What a thing to ask!" Ron said bitterly. "Can't you see that her love has just been killed when he needn't have been!"

"There was nothing we could do," the wizard muttered.

"Wasn't there?" Ron whispered back. He lifted Hermione and carried her off. The wizard watched them go.

"This will forever be a day of celebration!" a witch proclaimed into the wind. "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named has been killed at last!"

"But the boy who did it is dead!" Dumbledore yelled back. "How can you celebrate when you see his empty body lying here, before you?!"

* *

Hermione never spoke again. She never showed any emotion after that day. She ended up in St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. Ron visited her regularly until her death a year after the final battle. They said she died of a broken heart.

Dumbledore retired that day from his job as a Headmaster at Hogwarts. He disappeared and was never to be heard of again. Fawkes appears every once in a while, playing his song like always, but now the song is sad and filled with remorse.

Ron married and settled down with his wife in a house not far from the Burrow. He was appointed Minister of Magic and not much later announced that he would be a father of a boy. They named the boy Harry James Weasley.

Sirius killed himself a month after the final battle.

That day came to be known as the day of liberation, and every year wizarding children all over the world paint scars on their foreheads as a tribute to Harry Potter.

Harry was buried next to his parents in the cemetery at Godric's Hollow. His tombstone reads:

Here Lies Harry Potter

In life he was the Boy Who Lived

He died to free the world from evil

In death, he is the Savior of all that is good and just in our world

R.I.P.

Only one thing remains a mystery, even to this day. The scar that Voldemort gave to Harry when Harry was only an infant disappeared when Voldemort did. Harry was buried as a handsome seventeen year-old wizard, a skilled Quidditch player, a mischievous boy, and his face no longer recognizable because of the lightning-shaped scar.

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Did you like it? If you didn't, keep in mind that I am only 13 years old before you send me any true flames. As you can tell, I am all for a Hermione/Harry relationship because I think they're perfect for each other and Ron is an idiot because if he does like Hermione, he needs to come out and say it. Alright, so, while you're here, how about reading my other story, "An Angel to All" which I prize as my best piece of work.

Felony Melanie


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